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Korean Englishes in Transnational Contexts pp 157–179Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

English as a Discursive and Social Communication Resource for Contemporary South Koreans

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Abstract

This chapter examines the use of English in two South Korean television dramas, which are representative of the ways in which contemporary South Koreans incorporate English speech into their daily lives. Data were collected from the first five episodes of each drama, with the dataset consisting of approximately 10 hours of spoken discourse. The analysis suggests that English is frequently used for various communicative purposes among young South Koreans originating from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. This study demonstrates the necessity of the functional inclusion of multiple utterances in English in television dramas, reflecting the ubiquitousness of English in the everyday speech.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by Mr. David Scraggs at Dong-eui University in South Korea. I thank him for his sights and initial ideas that greatly assisted this research at its early stage. I also thank Ms. Susanna Carter at Monash University in Australia and Assistant Professor Werner Botha at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore for their assistance and critical comments that greatly improved the manuscript. I also wish to thank the two editors of this book, Christopher Jenks at the University of South Dakota and Jerry Won Lee at the University of California, Irvine, for their helpful comments and support during the preparation of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NTU’s Language and Communication Centre, Singapore, Singapore

    Hyejeong Ahn

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  1. Hyejeong Ahn
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota, USA

    Christopher J. Jenks

  2. University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA

    Jerry Won Lee

Appendices

Appendix 1

Se-gyeong:

신인화 team 장님?새 brand club A lunching 한신 …

 

You mean, Sin In-ha, the team manager? The one who launched the new Brand club A?

In-hwa:

오늘부터 우리와 아르테미스의 collaboration 준비, 본격적으로 시작합니다.

 

As of today, we will start a full preparation for the collaboration with Artimis.

Se-gyeong:

아르테미스랑 collaboration 해요?

 

Are we going to collaborate with Artimis?

Gim daeli:

사모님도 designer출신이라 … 보는 눈이 까다로우시니까. … 이것 저것 꼼꼼하게 check해야 돼. 대표님이 VIP들 만나는 business를 자택에서도 많이 하시니까. …

 

The wife of the president is also a fashion designer. She can be very particular … you need to check every item very thoroughly … The vice-president often has a business meeting with VIP members at her house

[…]

 

Seung-jo:

우리 같은 명품이 이번 collaboration 왜 하는 거예요? 한국에서 bag은 강세인데 반해 의류쪽이 약해서 그런거 아닙니까? 우리쪽 formal contemporary 를 약화 시킬거면 …

 

Why should a high-end brand company like us be involved in collaboration with others? Is it because, the handbag industry is popular, while the fashion industry is relatively less popular? Are you intending to reduce our formal contemporary style?

Staff 1:

이번 자료는 GN 의류design profile입니다. GN의류 신인화 team 장이 회장님게 meeting제안 …

 

This document contains the profile of GN fashion designs. Sin, In-hwa, a team leader of GN fashion suggests to you …

Appendix 2

#15

 

15.1 Clerk 1:

See-through style에 black stitch detail의 white neat가 mix되 신 sleeveless top 에. … pure하고 simple한 styling을 완성 시켜드리는 제품으로 …

 

This see-through sleeveless top with the combination of black stitches and white knit …

15.2 Clerk 2:

Gold colour의 pearl 과 soft한 texture가 다리를 입체적으로 연출 해드리는 제품으로, 가격은 270.000 won 이십니다. 명품만의 quality가 있으니까요.

 

It’s pure and simple design and the combination of gold colour from the pearls with the soft texture creates stereoscopic effects … It is 270,000 won [approximately 250 USD] … It assures the quality of the high-end brand …

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Ahn, H. (2017). English as a Discursive and Social Communication Resource for Contemporary South Koreans. In: Jenks, C., Lee, J. (eds) Korean Englishes in Transnational Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59788-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59788-1_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59787-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59788-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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